Introduction

When designing your game, numerous elements demand your attention. Fortunately, Scenario can help streamline many of these creative pipelines. One remarkable use case is the swift ideation and creation of characters for portrait-style talking heads. Create more time for story development and swiftly edit your animated portraits for quick incorporation of new themes and stories.

These portrait stills, which represent communication between player characters  and NPCs are pivotal. They often adhere to distinct design rules separate from the main game and provide an excellent opportunity to incorporate storytelling elements within your game.

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Workflow Overview

This workflow is accessible to designers of all skill levels and involves simple style training. We recommend following the workflow one step at a time, as outlined below:

1. Choosing or Training a Character Style Model
2. Generate Base Character Portraits
3. (Optional) Ideate and Refine Characters
4. Finalize Characters in Canvas

Step 1: Choosing Your Model

Choosing a Platform Model

The quickest way to create character portraits is to select a platform model that aligns with your envisioned style. There are numerous styles available. To easily navigate to the best styles for this use case, click Tags and Character Art in the model navigation dropdown under Platform Models. This will display all the Platform Models that are well-suited for generating character prompts.

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Composing a Model

If you've reviewed the platform models but haven't found one that perfectly fits your vision, consider creating a Model Composition. You can do this easily by clicking the + New Model button and selecting Start Composing. Alternatively, you can work directly from a model page you like and click Create Composition, which will allow you to build upon a model you already enjoy.

More on creating compositions.

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Training a Model

If you already have eight or more reference images, training your own model is an excellent choice. The key is to ensure that your reference images exhibit substantial variation from one another and feature a diverse range of characters for this workflow.

Training a style model

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Step 2: Generating the Base Character

The next step is straightforward - create your base character portrait. Simply select the model you chose in the previous step and craft a prompt that describes the type of character you prefer. You can also incorporate words that modify or emphasize specific stylistic elements in your model.

For optimal organization, consider creating a Collection. When you select a character portrait you like, click the Collections button and scroll down to Create Collection. Name the collection and ensure it's selected for your image. You'll be able to locate it again at the bottom of the left-hand main menu.

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Step 3: (Optional) Ideating and Refining

In this step of the workflow, we delve into additional techniques for refining and matching your existing in-game character concepts, as well as creating additional facial expressions for later use. This portion of the workflow explores reference image tools in depth, so feel free to click the link below for more information.

Guiding Portrait Creation with Reference Images

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Step 4: Finalizing in Canvas

Finally, whether or not you choose to pursue further ideation, it's time to bring all the elements together. The most straightforward way to do this on Scenario is by using our Canvas feature. Simply select your favorite base image, click the … button on the top bar, and select Edit in Canvas. This will transfer all the associated image generation information to Canvas.

We will explore this feature in greater detail in the link below. The primary focus for this step in the workflow is to make minor adjustments to the mouth, eyes, and any other features you wish to modify. By using the same base, these changes can appear seamless and create the necessary elements for clean and simple portrait animations. This step of the workflow offers ample potential, and its depth will depend entirely on the level of nuance you wish to achieve.

Creating Animatable Character Portraits in Canvas

Conclusion

Regardless of studio size, time is always a critical factor in game development. This workflow can help you enrich your game story and world, as well as create opportunities for your LiveOps and Marketing teams to develop ads or introduce new characters without disrupting the consistency of your game world's style.

Additional Resources

Watch a Video on Changing Facial Expressions on the Canvas